Angus Black, welcome back too!

We thought writing in Maltese was a typical Nationalist low self esteem characteristic. Now it is no longer a thought… it is a belief! For me, a fact!

For calling him fat. He’s not fat, he’s big-boned.

Besides his thuggish behavior in his attack on Fr Lucie-Smith, the sheer utter audacity of the man is something else. First of all – the title of his article. He does not speak for all of us. He has no right to. At best this article should have been called ‘ Closure for Labour’. For the other half of the country who do not share the same adulation for Mintoff that Grima so evidently has, there still is no closure. Until such time that people like Grima run roughshod over the pain that was caused to so many people, there cannot be closure. Perhaps to Grima the only people that count are Mintoffjani. Is that his ‘everyone’. This is not too different from Joseph Muscat talking about Mintoff being the father of the nation. He most certainly is not. There never has been a more divisive figure in Maltese politics. Remember “min mhux maghna kontra taghna”or “biex thobb il-familja trid tkun socjalist”. A father to the Mintoffjani perhaps – but most certainly not to all the Maltese people. For every man who adores him, I can show at least one other that abhors him. Mintoff sowed this division. He nurtured it. It is how he controlled the country. He followed the British maxim ‘ Divide and rule’ – and rule with an iron fist he did. Except for those on who he relied to instill fear in the rest of us. Those could do whatever they pleased.

Grima then goes on to boast that he sent Fr Lucie Smith packing. He did no such thing. He swore and insulted him. Hardly something to be proud of. That there were a few people who applauded him simply means that there are others in this forsaken country who are intolerant of others who have a different opinion to their own. Is it so difficult to disagree with someone agreeably, with well reasoned argument – or is the subject matter so void of reason that one can only resort to expletives? One would have thought that with the exposure Mr Grima has had to discussion he should have been able to be imaginative enough to come up with some argument (as indeed he has in his article on the Times) rather than to stoop as low as he did on his facebook page. That Grima persists to refuse to profer an apology even with the benefit of hindsight, shows that his arrogance matches his girth.

But imagination is something Grima is not lacking. He says of Mintoff “Faithful to his record as a catalyst for peace”. What planet is he living on? Mintoff loved confrontation. If there was no fight, there was no success as far as he was concerned. The fight is what made the battle worthwhile.

There are so many statements made in this article that I could criticise that I could go on and on. His assertion that there was no previous intent on the part of Muscat when he kissed the coffin – how does he know ? is he in Muscat’s head? The misplaced pleasure he felt in hearing Mintoff’s name being shouted in the Cathedral – just like the spiteful schoolyard bully stating ‘hekk hu go fik’ – and so on and on……..but I do have other things to do. I think my point is made. Shame on you Mr Grima. You should have long gone and hung your head in shame but it is clear that you and your ilk have no understanding of the basic tenets of human decency.

It is the attempts of the likes of Grima to rewrite history that is irking so many. There are many who like myself disliked Mintoff’s methods immensely but would have kept silent at his death out of respect for those who adored the man. But the latter could not simply bury the man in a dignified manner. They have felt the need to ram this occasion down our throat and their insistence that their grief is all of ours is too much to bear. I usually do not like to speak ill of the dead, so in a situation like this I would normally prefer to say nothing. The likes of Grima and his leader Joseph Muscat, make that impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21mJh6j9i4

[Daphne – Ooooh, find a girl to tie up and beat, why don’t you. They’re all over the place now, fantasising about handcuffs, apparently. But you’ll need a helicopter and a few billion in the bank. It’s nice to know we’re exporting ageing Maltese chauvinists.]